Hi,

I am trying to get a hAC AP to boot automatically, downloading it's config via TFTP. I am using ISC DHCP and it feels like I have tried every possible options, but I can't get it to work. It does get the IP address etc, but it never tries to contact the TFTP server. I have run the hAC connected directly to my laptop running ISC DHCP and after the IP is ACKed, nothing happens. Does anyone have a working ISC dhcpd.conf file they could share, where this is working?

No one?

How are you all dealing with these in volume? I have deployed north of half a million CPEs from different vendors over the last ten years, and they all support this in different ways, using DHCP options in order to get a config file. Now I would like to do the same with 3 different Mikrotiks (hAP AC, hAP AC lite and RB2011) and my former colleague told me they support this, but I can't find any documentation about this. I know about Netinstall, but adding another system for just a "few" (maybe 3-4000 a year) isn't an option I'm afraid.

So, any advice on zero-touch deployments using regular DHCP and TFTP (or whatever file transfer protocol needed)?

There are settings about boot procedure ... even if you get RB to boot via network, by default it uses bootp. Did you change boot device to "try-ethernet-once-then-nand" and boot protocol to "dhcp"?

Sorry, I'm so used to using DHCP and BOOTP interchangeably in these situations. For me it doesn't really matter if it is BOOTP or DHCP, I just want the Mikrotik to listen to the response it gets. If it needs to have a special config for this to work, well then it defeats the purpose, since I need this to work with brand new devices out of the box. I've tried "everything" it feels like, but all it does is get the IP address and not try to fetch the config file. I guess my next try will be to install a Netinstall server and sniff the trafiic and hope nothing proprietary goes on.

I am surprised this isn't mentioned anywhere that I can see. Are most deployments with Mikrotiks doing manual config somehow? I am fairly new to Mikrotik, even though I actually happen to have one of these at home, running as an AP. But at home, I configure it using the webUI and some CLI, so I don't really need a zero-touch setup at home. It's a great box I think, I am super happy with it at home, but I just need it to work in an automated environment.

Out-of-a-box rourerboards don't try to boot from network. You will have to change that setting.

So in order to not manually have to config the box, I have to manually configure that? If I have access to it and can do that, I might as well configure it then. This was sad news I have to say, since I really like the box. I guess we'll have to find another box then.

Thanks for your help!

ROS boots from ethernet once (out-of-the-box). Check out flashfig and TR069. It may not work the way you requested, but there are solutions for mass deployments.

Thanks, I did some searches here, and it seems like others have tried to do what I am doing, but it all fails due to te Flashfig server. It seems the config file is compressed/encoded in an unknown way (doesn't have to be proprietary, just unknown). Since I can't introduce yet another system, and Mikrotik only supports this using their own Flashfig server, I am back at square one.

Thanks for all your help!